Consent Obtaining Machine and Process

ABSTRACT

An Iconsent application allows a user to obtain the users consent to some action, to verify identities of one or both users to the action, to find a proper form to obtain the consent, and finally to record the users&#39; consent along with the biometric obtained at the time of the content. The consent can be given by one or both parties to the transaction.

This application claims priority from provisional No. 62/719,546, filed Aug. 17, 2018, the entire contents of which are herewith incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Various actions in everyday life require consent from another party to take some action.

Confusion can arise about whether a party has really given consent.

Even if the consent is obtained, it needs to be recorded and verified. In addition, it can be difficult for people to decide the specific form of the consent. For example, some types of consent may require certain specific legal language in the consent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application describes a machine, which comprises software that runs on a server and/or a handheld computer such as a cellular phone, that memorializes a user's consent to take some action. The form of the consent can be selected by the user from among a plurality of prestored consent formats.

The user is requested for their consent, and then must take a positive step to show that the consent has been given. Information about the electronically-obtained-consent is then stored. In one embodiment, the user is required to take an action to verify their identity prior to getting the consent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the Drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a basic diagram of the hardware carrying out the system;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of operation carried out by the hardware; and

FIG. 3 shows another flowchart of operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment describes a system that is carried out between a server computer such as 100 and a number of client computers such as 110. Each of the client computers can be a portable computer such as a mobile telephone, tablet, or other portable computer which can be easily carried by a user. The computer 110 may have a user interface and display screen 111. In one embodiment, the display screen 111 can act as the user interface using a touchscreen interface.

Actions are carried out between the server and the client to obtain the users consent to some action, to verify identities of one or both users, to find a proper form to obtain the consent, and finally to record the users' consent. The consent can be given by one or both parties to the transaction. In embodiments, the transaction can be a transaction for the sale of goods or services, and in other embodiments, the transaction can be an agreement between the parties to allow some action to occur between the parties.

The action starts with the flowchart shown in FIG. 2. The user initially registers for the app as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2. At 210, the user enters their personal information. This can include the username and password, for example, as well as other personal information to be recorded at 210. This information is entered via the client computer 100 and stored within a memory 105 in the server computer. The personal information can include the user's address, as well as specific personal information about the user including a personal identification number (PIN) and biometric information such as fingerprint, face ID, iris scan, and others. The system may also for example take a scan of an identifying card such as a credit card or driver's license, and may store that as proof of the user's identity, associated with the biometric information.

At 220, any time after the initial registration by the user, the user is given a number of different options of agreement forms that they want to review and agree to. The user can review and pre-agree with the terms of any of these agreements as shown in 220.

For each of a plurality of categories, the user is provided with the option to opt-in to a specific form of consent. For each specific form of consent, the user is provided with a standard form agreement to which they can agree. Only a few of the consent options are shown in 220, and a number of the other options are described herein.

As example, the user can check the box 221 to indicate that they want to review and decide whether to agree to, a standard purchase agreement. The user is then provided with a purchase agreement to review at 225. The user can review the terms of that purchase agreement at 225. If the user agrees with its terms, then at 230 the user clicks yes to signify agreement with the terms of that agreement. The system may re-prompt the user to make sure that the user is giving knowing an informed consent to agree to this form of purchase agreement in the future. If the user agrees at 230, then the purchase agreement is added to the users acceptable agreements at 235, and the system continues to see if any other agreements are desired.

Note at this point the user has only agreed to the form of the agreement, not to any specific agreement. However, when the user is later asked whether they want to agree with an agreement for party A, the user knows they have already agreed to the specific form of the agreement used by party A.

there can be many different forms of agreements, including, as described herein, forms of agreement for specific businesses. For example, a first rental car agency might have a specific form of agreement that they use in the user can pre-agree with the forms of that agreement. Then later, when the user actually arrives at the rental car agency, the user has already reviewed all the different terms and conditions.

In one embodiment, this system allows users to review and consent to verbal agreements or written agreements of any kinds or nature, including purchases or receipt of goods or services, purchase of both tangible and intangible goods, purchase of tangible and intangible services, and others. Each of these forms allows a user to review the terms of the agreement in advance, agreed to the form of the agreement without actually agreeing to the agreement itself until some later time. However, when the user decides to agree to the agreement itself, the user will have already okayed the form of that agreement.

In addition, in one specifically advantageous embodiment, this can be used to address questions about whether the user has consented to either a romantic advance, an advance of friendship, or an advance of a more intimate nature by opting in to that form at 223. For any of these systems, when the user opts in by checking the specific box, the user is given the standard terms of the consent agreement for the specific action to review, the user agrees with that consent agreement, and then that category for that consent agreement has been added.

Each company, for example, can have their own purchase agreement and require the user to opt into that company's agreement specifically. However, once the user agrees to a specific form of purchase agreement, as explained herein the user can later use this application to determine or to obtain consent to that agreement.

After the initial operations to register and okay specific forms of agreements, the operation proceeds as shown in FIG. 3.

A first party, a vendor or a person wants to obtain consent from a second party referred to herein as the user. The first party needs to first get the request to the Iconsent app. This can be done in a number of different ways.

In one embodiment, Party A can only send this kind of request if the user has specifically checked the box such as 221 and opted in to to accept this form of consent.

In this embodiment, the request can be a purchase, and party A is using the standard purchase agreement which the user has already accepted. At 300, party a sends a request to the user who receives it at 310. Another option is that party a displays a barcode 305, and the user's phone at 306 scans the barcode within the Iconsent app. For example, a store or kiosk might request the user to agree to terms and conditions, along with the barcode that says “scan here to agree to our terms and conditions”. The terms and conditions can simply be terms and conditions of entry to a venue. Alternatively, the terms and conditions can be terms and conditions of a purchase. Another option is that the cellular phone can detect a location at 307, and from that location postulate what the user is likely to be doing. For example, if the user is at the location of a rental car Association, they are likely to be needing to agree to a rental car agreement. Any of these forms can be used to prompt the Iconsent app that party a is seeking consent at 310.

At 315, the system asks the user whether they agree to the terms of the purchase agreement for party A. If the user agrees, they say “I agree” at 320, and are required to enter a biometric data to at 325 to confirm this agreement. In embodiments, the biometric data can be any kind of user specific information such as voice, fingerprint, handprint, iris recognition, face recognition, pin or passcode recognition or any other kind of personal information.

The data is checked at 330 to determine whether the data is authorized, and the user has properly agreed. If yes, then the consent is stored at 340 and the transaction is allowed to proceed.

The system can use this to purchase services and goods on an airplane while in flight. This can be used for example to purchase seats, concessions, souvenirs, during any kind of event. This can be used to obtain product delivery signatures. this can be used to obtain subway and bus train transactions as well as car, boat, plane and bicycle rentals. This can be used for banking transactions. This can be used for personal transportation, such as checking in or upon entry to a vehicle to authenticate the rider and obtain consent for the fare being charged. This can be used for charitable contributions. This can be used for political contributions. This can use for tollroad passes. This can also be used for legal agreements such as settlement agreements in a court or in a business meeting. It can be used for downloadable media such as software movies and videos. Any of these systems can be used in this way.

This can also be used as a legal notary application, for any legal transaction, including medical, real estate, service orders like appliance repair, carpet cleaning, car repair, towing, rental and real estate agreements, use of your personal information, likeness, audio recordings, realese of other types of intormation.

Some forms of application, such as the form described above, only requires a single party to agree to the consent, since the consent is between that party and someone who is requesting consent. Other forms of agreement, including personal relationship consent may require both parties to the agreement to give their consent. In that case, both parties to the agreement need to have the app working, and both parties verify their identity, verify the form of the consent, verify their consent itself, and finally store information indicative of users identity, the users consent, the time of the consent, and other information to verify the consent later on.

The above describes using this with a mobile phone. This can be done however in addition using web connections, on a kiosk, e.g. a touchscreen, over any kind of wireless system, or a virtual reality or mixed reality device. In addition, this can use the sprocket style user interface described in our U.S. Pat. No. 8,677,280, or can use the virtual assistant user interface described in our U.S. Pat. No. 8,040,216.

The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may he applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. 

1. A computer system, comprising: a display and user interface that allows entry of information, the computer program to run and running a computer program that receives a request for the user to consent to a transaction, and obtains the user's consent to the transaction according to a specified form of consent, and obtaining information about an identity of the user at the time of the consent, and recording and storing information indicative of the identity of the user obtained at the time of the consent along with the consent, and, the form of the consent.
 2. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the request for the user to consent to a transaction is received from another party sending a specific request for the user to consent to a specific transaction using a specific legal agreement.
 3. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the computer program stores a plurality of different legal forms, and allows the user to consent using any of those legal forms.
 4. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the request for the user to consent to a transaction is obtained by using a camera associated with the computer system to scan a code associated with the transaction, which indicates that the party is seeking consent to the transaction.
 5. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the request for the user to consent to the transaction is obtained by detecting the location of the computer system, and postulating a likely consent which will be needed based on the location of the computer system.
 6. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the transaction is a transaction for purchase of goods or services.
 7. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the transaction is a romantic transaction between two individuals, and where the consent is obtained from both parties to the transaction along with biometric information obtained from both of the parties to the transaction obtained at the time of the consent and stored.
 8. The computer system as in claim 1, wherein the computer system further comprises a biometric obtaining part, which obtains a biometric from the user at a time of the user making their agreement, and stores the biometric along with the user's agreement.
 9. A method of using a computer system for obtaining a consent to a transaction, comprising: running a computer program on a portable computer that has a display and user interface that allows entry of information, receiving, into the computer program, a request for the user to consent to a transaction, determining a specified form of consent to receive for the users consent; and obtaining the user's consent to the transaction according to the specified form of consent, at a time of obtaining the users consent, verifying an identity of the user, and recording and storing information indicative of the identity of the user obtained at the time of obtaining the consent along with the user's consent to the transaction and the form of the consent.
 10. The method as in claim 9, wherein the request for the user to consent to a transaction is received from another party sending a specific request for the user to consent to a specific transaction using a specific legal agreement.
 11. The method as in claim 9, wherein the computer program stores a plurality of different legal forms, and allows the user to consent using any of those legal forms.
 12. The method as in claim 9, wherein the request for the user to consent to a transaction is obtained by using a camera associated with the to scan a code associated with the transaction, which indicates that a specific party is seeking consent to a specific transaction.
 13. The method as in claim 9, wherein the request for the user to consent to the transaction is obtained by detecting the location of the computer system, and postulating a likely consent which will be needed based on the location of the method.
 14. The method as in claim 9, wherein the transaction is a transaction for purchase of goods or services.
 15. The method as in claim 9, wherein the transaction is a romantic transaction between two individuals, and where the consent is obtained from both parties to the transaction along with biometric information obtained from both of the parties to the transaction obtained at the time of the consent, and stored.
 16. The method as in claim 9, further comprising using a biometric obtaining part, associated with the computer system, for obtaining a biometric from the user at a time of the user making their agreement, and storing the biometric along with the user's agreement. 